Michele Norris steps back from ATC post after husband accepts Obama campaign role

Blog item posted October 24, 2011

NPR’s Michele Norris is leaving her co-hosting duties for All Things Considered until after the 2012 elections, due to husband Broderick Johnson’s new position with President Obama’s re-election campaign. “Given the nature of Broderick’s position with the campaign and the impact that it will most certainly have on our family life,” Norris said in a note to colleagues this morning (Oct. 24), “I will temporarily step away from my hosting duties until after the 2012 elections.” NPR hasn’t decided who will substitute for her. Norris said she will produce signature segments and features and working on new reporting projects. “While I will of course recuse myself from all election coverage, there’s still an awful lot of ground that I can till in this interim role,” she added. Johnson, an attorney in Washington, D.C., will be a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. He has long been involved in Democratic politics. In 2004 he was a senior adviser for congressional affairs in Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign. From 1998 to 2000 he served as President Clinton’s deputy assistant for legislative affairs and in other roles.